Policy can't be a prerogative of New Delhi, it needs to be debated in village alleys first, Arvind Kejriwal tells ET in an exclusive interview.

How has the plunge into full-time politics changed your life?

I am still trying to understand the transition from a campaigner to a civil activist to a politician. I am not a politician yet. I do not think we will ever be able to become politicians.

What made you change your mind and join politics?

We tried everything (with the government and politicians) - from pleading before them, meeting, writing, fasting, and it can go on. We were left with no option but to completely overthrow the system.

... By becoming a part of that very system?

No, not become a part of the system. We are not saying that they are bad people, we are good people, and that we will run the system well by taking over. We will never be able to change the system over time, for we will get sucked into it. We will need to change /break down the system immediately.

This sounds like anarchy. How can you break down the system overnight?

The blueprint has to be very clear about what we want and that is what our people are working on. At the basic level it is about decentralisation of power.

Too much of power has got concentrated in the hands of the Central and state governments. There is perhaps just one politician, who has understood the problem of this country and that was Rajiv Gandhi.

We had the 73rd and the 74th amendments, and Rajiv Gandhi introduced the corresponding amendments, 67th or 68th? But they fell through in Rajya Sabha because he did not have the requisite majority in the house.

He had said then that the problems of this country are hardcore political in nature. (They are) Not technical that can be solved through computerisation or through a public grievance redress system.

The power structures have to be completely broken from Delhi and the state capitals and taken to every village in this country.

But even Rajiv Gandhi failed to do so because the system is so corrupt?

He died an untimely death. They tried to bring these changes through the 73rd and 74th amendments, but those were half-baked attempts.

Why didn't these changes happen if it were so simple?

It is not all that simple. All the government schemes are made in Delhi where one Dr Montek Singh Ahluwalia, a nonelected representative, makes schemes and allots Rs 30,000 crore to implement them across the villages of the country. The needs of each village are different from the other.

I met Rahul Gandhi about two or three years back and asked him as to why these schemes are made in Delhi. Why can't the villages be given their entitled amount and decisions on how to spend be left to the people of that village? Be it a school, an irrigation project, or drinking water. Why don't you do this?

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I asked him. He said this was all known to them and there was nothing new in it. I said why don't you do it then? He said there are sharks around each of these schemes.

The moment I withdraw one scheme, the government will fall because there are many ministers and parties involved around each of these schemes. I told him that this was the dream of his father who started this journey and it was high time he took it forward. But he is a part of that system and is unable to do it.

Are you saying villages or states have no say? They do participate in discussions before allocations are made.

I went to a village in West Bengal, which was getting Rs 6 crore total, not a small amount...out of which Rs 50 lakh were for NREGA, Rs 10 lakh of some other scheme and so on, for instance.

They wanted to construct a school, for which they needed just Rs 20 lakh. But despite having Rs 6 crore, they couldn't make the investment, because every other penny is tied to one scheme or the other.

But don't you think there are attempts of greater decentralisation or a more active federal structure? For instance, cash transfers through Aadhar card...

Cash transfers is a very bad idea. Firstly, cash transfers is being done saying that it will stop corruption. They are not talking of federal structure, there is nothing to do with that.

But it is about empowering people...

How is it about empowering people? This is converting everyone into a beggar. They can create fake accounts. The motive behind cash transfers is to completely demolish the existing infrastructure that exists in this country.

You need numbers to make laws or change laws. It will come back to the number game, in Parliament, state assemblies, panchayats. How will you do that?

That's the problem of the people of this country. We are telling the people of this country that this is the kind of change required. If the people of this country want it (the change) they will vote us in, if they don't, they won't. We do not want to come to power. If the people want it, they will bring us, otherwise go and vote BJP or Congress in.